A THURROCK councillor, who is chair of the borough council's Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee has spoken of his 'grave concerns' about a new NHS telephone service which he believes is effectively a new appointment system for accident and emergency.

And he is angry that the council will not let him call a meeting of his committee to discuss the situation and air concerns.

The new NHS 111 process is telephone service being introduced to try and cut down on the number of people attending A& E who don't really need to.

The NHS says the new system will make it easier for patients to access local health services when they have an urgent need.

Calling 111 will get you through to a team of call advisers who will ask you questions to assess your symptoms, and give you the healthcare advice you need or direct you to the right local service.

Where possible, they will book appointments or transfer you directly to a service. If call handlers think you need an ambulance, the NHS says one will be sent just as quickly if you had dialled 999.

However Cllr Shane Ralph says: "I have grave concerns over the new 111 A&E call first for an appointment system that is starting in December.

"I fear this will see many people not attending A&E who have life-threatening symptoms.

"We all know someone who puts off going to the doctors and try to live with it. Often they are the ones who just pop into A&E on their way home from work only to find they have actually had a heart attack or a stroke.

"I asked for an emergency meeting of the Health and Wellbeing committee to be called but this was refused.

"What do the residents feel about having to book an appointment for A&E?

"We all understand that the service has been miss-used for years but mainly because people are fed up of waiting two weeks for a doctor's appointment."